From the Head
Dear Parents and Carers
As the festive season approaches, our lovely school has been bustling with activity. Despite the chilly weather, the children have been working diligently and enjoying the excitement of preparing for Christmas. Their enthusiasm is truly infectious!
A heartfelt thank you to all our parents for your generosity during this week's donation drive for our upcoming Christmas Fayre on Friday, 6th December. Your support is invaluable in helping us make this event a wonderful celebration for the school community.
If you haven’t had the chance to donate yet, there’s still time! Mrs Farrell will happily accept any last-minute contributions next week. Every donation makes a difference and adds to the magic of the Fayre.
Thank you for your continued support, and have a wonderful weekend.
Kind regards,
Miss Holloway
The week ahead...
Safeguarding Team
Notices
Young Voices
The rehearsals this week have been fabulous! I can see the hard work that the children are putting in and many already know all their words by heart. Their increased confidence translates into renewed enthusiasm and it is a pleasure to hear them sing. Please continue to support your singers by practising as often as possible, using the resources on Spotify, YouTube and the Young Voices Music Room. Warm regards, Ms Tyler.
New Eltham Christmas Lights Switch On - Saturday 30th November 4 - 6pm
We are delighted to have been invited to sing at the New Eltham Christmas Lights event on Saturday 30th November. We are opening this event up for all children in the school to come and sing Christmas Carols and take part in our lantern parade. We will meet outside our school at 4.30pm and walk down to New Eltham Village together for the children to sing from 5pm - 5.15pm, then the lights will be switched on! Please could children wear their school uniform and a Santa hat.
Please make sure you have completed the Google form so we know who to expect. There’s lots of entertainment organised, so do come along to support our local community if you can.
Children in Need
We had a great day last Friday, and would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who donated - so far we have raised £601.00. If you would still like to donate please click the button below:
Christmas Fayre Friday 6th December 3.30 - 6.30pm
Thank you for your generous donations of chocolate, bottles, toys, books and secret room gifts, decorated and filled jars, as well as the little brown envelopes. Santa’s helpers are busy getting everything ready for the Fayre but we are still accepting donations.
We would like to remind everyone that we need as many decorated and filled jars as possible for our very popular Jar Stall. If you are not sure what this involves, please speak to your class representative, any of the Fund Raising & Social Committee (FRSC) or Mrs Farrell. Thank you for your support.
This week at St Olave's
Year 3 visit The Sea Life London Aquarium
Are you taller than an Emperor Penguin? How about a King Penguin? These are questions we answered on our trip to the SeaLife Centre this week! We had a great time exploring the oceans around the world and finding out which creatures were endangered and the conservation work that happens behind the scenes. We were so excited to reach the Polar Zone and watch the Gentoo Penguins doing all kinds of flips and tricks in the water too!
Postbox Topper
Last year, the current Year 5 were set an optional homework competition to design a new postbox topper for our local community. Seven children in 5 Maple were picked to have their designs made by Wendy Power from the ‘Friends of Southwood Park’. Last Thursday, Wendy came into school to share the postbox topper with the children. The children were so excited to see all of their designs come together and were so grateful to Wendy who presented them all with a lovely crocheted bee. This topper can be seen on the postbox which is at the junction of Larchwood Road and Southwood Road. Thank you so much to Wendy for this amazing gift and to Mrs Farrell for organising this community link.
Tag Rugby Fixtures
Friday saw St Olave's travel to Farringtons Prep School for a couple of friendly fixtures of tag rugby. Year 6 played a fast paced and high scoring first game in which we narrowly lost 9-11. The match was brilliant and the children collectively produced a fantastic attacking threat. The second game, Year 6 won comfortably 6-2 and again showed great teamwork and determination to support each other. Well done Year 6!
Year 5 played outstandingly in both the fixtures they had; winning both games and demonstrating excellent teamwork, sharing the tries amongst the squad. What was just as impressive was the resilience and drive to win the ball back when out of possession. Well done Year 5!
House Meetings - Thursday 21st November
During UK Parliament Week, the Year 6 House and Vice Captains led House meetings to help everyone learn about democracy. They gave talks to explain how Parliament works and why having a voice matters. They helped to inspire interest in parliament, politics and democracy and encouraged the younger children to engage with the UK's democratic system and institutions. Their efforts helped everyone understand more about Parliament and brought the school community closer.
Mrs McNamara
House General Knowledge Quiz 2024 Results
All the children from Reception to Year 6 took part in an age related General Knowledge Quiz which included a variety of questions from categories such as famous authors, artists, musicians, history, geography and sports to name a few. All the individual points were added together.
The winning House for our St Olave’s Prep House General Knowledge Quiz 2024 are the KESTRELS with a staggering 376 points.
Congratulations to those children who had the highest scores in their year groups who were awarded with certificates:
Year 6: Ella W
Year 5: Oliver N
Year 4: Isaac M & Alfred W
Year 3: Emilia L & Alvin MO
Year 2: Surraya L
Year 1: Arthur A
Nursery
The children have been busy, busy, busy this week despite the wintery weather. We love to get outside in all weathers and on Monday we made bubbles in the puddles on the playground and used brooms to make rivers and lakes. When the weather turned cold, we were excited to find the water had turned to ice and had fun cracking it and melting it! Please ensure your child has a named school hat for when we play outside in the cold.
The children have been fascinated by playing vets and doctors this week and we have held regular surgeries in the classroom with all manner of strange animals, injuries and illnesses. From a dog without an eye to a lion with a sore paw, we have treated them all and made them feel better!
Reception
BRRRRRR… it’s cold outside!
We saw a tiny bit of snow this week which sparked a fascinating discussion about the weather conditions snow needs to settle. The children were using words such as; melting, freezing and temperature. At lunch time, the children found ice in a tuff tray. They had the best time cracking it, snapping it, picking it and melting it.
This week, our drawing club sessions have been focused around the book ‘Dear Zoo’. The children have drawn their own characters and baskets for their animals to be delivered in. We then made the animal’s house using the construction resources. We had so much fun trying out their codes. Our socks have been blown off once again this week as lots of children have created their own zig-zag book. They cut out animals and independently wrote the name of the animal underneath. We are so proud of their Phonics and writing skills.
In Maths, we took turns to scoop and pick pumpkin seeds out of a pumpkin. We took turns to count how many seeds we each had and discussed ‘who has more’ and ‘who has less’. We then spoke about the size of the seeds using comparative language. We continue to develop the children’s mathematical skills and vocabulary through continuous provision.
We hope you have enjoyed reading your library books this week. Please could you bring them back in on Monday in preparation for our next library trip on Thursday.
Have a great weekend.
Year 1
Such a busy week!
Year 1 have been working their socks off as usual, making sure that they are continuing their learning.
The children have been enthralled by our new Faster Read book ‘The Twits’ with many of them choosing to read the book in every spare second that they have.
During maths we’re really enjoying learning about 3D shapes, their properties and how to sort them.
In English we continued our work on sentence structure and adjectives, with the children thinking hard and writing some fantastic sentences based on the book ‘A Gift for Amma’.
We had a very smelly finale with our science unit studying the senses; where the children had to sniff 6 mystery pots and try to match them to a picture. They did very well!
Next week we will be launching in to lots of rehearsals for our nativity…
Year 2
The weather has certainly not deterred us from another full week of learning! We've come to the end of our addition and subtraction unit in maths, exploring missing number problems and using the inverse to solve them. With a grammar focus in English we've learnt all about contractions and replacing letters for an apostrophe when pushing two words together. We've also been really proud of the progress made in comprehension this term, with the children now working far more independently.
In geography we went on a quick trip around the world to locate countries where extreme weather events happen - from hurricanes in Florida to dust storms in Saudi Arabia and wild fires in Australia, we all agree that England feels like a ‘luckier’ country weather wise! We started to become engineers in science, exploring bridge making - come back next week to see the results.
Next week will see us go into full blown nativity rehearsal mode so please work with your child over the weekend to ensure they know their lines. Have a good weekend!
Year 3
In maths this week we have been continuing our multiplication and division topic by focusing on the 4 times tables. We are working hard to develop our fluency, so keep up the great practice at home!
We are continuing to put all the elements together for our non-chronological reports in English, this week getting started with our topic paragraphs. We revisited conjunctions to extend our sentences to allow us to write interesting facts. Next week we will finish editing these paragraphs and start to publish all of our hard work!
Geography saw us learning about the human features of Antarctica (something we were very curious to know about after we discussed physical features last week). We discovered that while no one lives in this region, thousands of people visit as tourists every year and about the vital work of researchers to help us understand more about the landscape and animals.
Lastly, in science we explored magnets and investigated when they would attract and repel each other. We made our predictions and tested if they were correct! We then thought about when we would need to use this information in everyday life…
Year 4
It’s been a very busy week - and one week closer to Christmas!
In maths this week, we have continued our focus on multiplication by learning the short multiplication column method. Completing written multiplication questions really highlighted to the children their need to secure their times tables facts so please keep practising at home! In English, we began by identifying fronted adverbials and learning how they are punctuated within a sentence. We then wrote our own sentences, choosing appropriate fronted adverbials depicting place, time, manner and possibility. We ended the week generating vocabulary for a setting description which the children will continue after the weekend. In science, we learnt to identify and describe the different components of an electrical circuit, and built our own simple circuits using batteries, wires and a light bulb. We then drew a component diagram of our circuits making sure we used the correct symbols.
The weather looks to improve next week, but please make sure that the children are wrapped up warm. Gloves, hats and scarves start to appear and disappear at this time of the year so having named items is a huge help when locating missing items.
Year 5
This week we delved into cautionary tales by Hilaire Belloc in our poetry unit. We started by developing our understanding of two of his poems by identifying the themes, structures and the characters. This led into creating our own characters and cautionary tales, but with a modern twist. What happens to a child who plays video games nonstop? What happens to a child who takes selfies all the time? These are only some of the ideas explored by the children in their own tales.
In maths, we have started our fractions unit by applying our understanding of multiplication and division to find equivalent fractions of both unit and non unit fractions. Continuing to apply our multiplication and division skills, we learnt how to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers.
We finished our portraits using mixed mediums this week and have been very impressed with the children’s creativity and choices to represent themselves. We started our science topic, ‘Properties of Materials’ this week and started by carrying out a fair and comparative test to group materials according to their properties and then used these results to explain how the properties of materials enable them to be suitable for a specific task.
Year 6
This week has been full of exciting activities and achievements for our Year 6 pupils!
As part of UK Parliament Week, Year 6 took a leading role in exploring the importance of democracy. They participated in engaging discussions and activities, even helping to run House meetings where they shared what they learned about the role of Parliament and how decisions are made. Their enthusiasm and leadership shone through, inspiring younger pupils across the school. In lessons, they learnt about the structure of Parliament, how laws are introduced and the art of debate. There is no doubt that some of these children have the potential to lead our country in the future!
In class, Year 6 completed their internal English and Maths assessments with great success. Their focus and effort were impressive, and they should feel very proud of their results. These results help to inform our future planning and teaching. We also began our daily handwriting lessons this week, with a focus on a neat, cursive script ready for Secondary School.
In Science, the children started a fascinating new topic, Animals Including Humans. This week, they learned about the structure and function of the heart. To deepen their understanding, they created model hearts out of plasticine, carefully labelling each part. It was a hands-on, creative way to bring their learning to life.
To coincide with Geography week, in Art the children were introduced to Andy Warhol and his vibrant Pop Art. The children worked in pairs to create their own Pop Art using a favourite flag! Look out for these finished creations on our social media accounts!
Well done, Year 6, for another fantastic week of hard work and achievement!
Outdoor Learning
It has been a strange week with the weather. Monday and Tuesday were quite warm and then the cold set in with minus figures in the mornings! The children managed to plant out the broad beans, chard and some of the onions as well as clear quite a few beds. At lunchtimes, children helped spread our leaf mulch from last year on to the beds and into Poly 4. Then as it was so cold we did some cooking with the vegetables which Year 5 had picked earlier in the week. The children cut onions, carrots, kale, leeks, chard and potatoes. We made two vegetable soups and one leek and potato. The reviews were mixed when the children tasted them! Hopefully it will not be as cold next week.
Languages
Despite the frosty weather, we've had a great week in the Languages department! Nursery and Reception put their knowledge of colours and numbers together and did some amazing work. Year 1 had a lesson on colours and Year 2 worked at a comic strip, chronologically ordering some activities done during the week.
In the Upper School, Year 3 practised their French writing skills: they wrote a paragraph on where they go on holiday, how and who with, and what they pack in their bag. Year 4 used the Paris landmarks to work on directions: the children worked on their speaking and writing skills in pairs.
In Spanish, Year 5 has had a very challenging lesson on the current topic, practising listening skills to a high level, whilst Year 6 has practised translation and spelling accuracy. In Latin, the children have carried on exploring and practising verbs endings and they also talk about the myth of Pandora.
Design & Technology
Year 3 Pneumatic Monsters
This week pupils in Year 3 completed the initial drawn design for their Pneumatic Monsters and started assembling the pneumatic mechanism that will create movement in their toys.
Year 4 Slingshot cars
Pupils in Year 4 learned about aerodynamics and they applied these principles to designing aerodynamic car shapes from 3 different perspectives.
Year 5 Doodle Bots
This week pupils wrote their specifications for their doodle bot designs as well as designing options for their doodle bots.
Year 6 Steady Hand Games
Pupils in Year 6 wrote their design criteria and started designing the base for their steady hand games.
Music
We’ve been ‘busy, busy, busy’ in Nursery and Reception this week learning their fantastic songs for the Christmas play, ‘A King is Born’. We’ve been learning about the Christmas Story and relating this to the songs we are singing. I’m sure you will hear a few of these songs at home!
The children in Year 1 and 2 have been singing their socks off learning songs for their ‘Boogie Woogie Nativity’! We’ve been concentrating on putting expression and dynamics into our songs to make them stand out!
The Upper School children are continuing to learn lots of festive songs ahead of their many carol singing events in the local community and their Carol Service. Lyrics will be sent home for the children to rehearse soon.
A big thank you to one of our Year 1 pupils who played their violin for us in assembly this week. He also visited Year 6’s Music lesson to play for them and played to his year group. It’s great to share these experiences together and help build each other’s confidence to perform.
As mentioned above, please let us know if your child is available to sing at the New Eltham Christmas Lights event, it will be our first Christmas event of the year!
Postcards of Praise
Community News
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